Art history’s history

Аннотация

T he history of art is a com paratively young discipHne, at least in relation to o th er hum anistic studies. Critical approaches to biography, to classics, to liter­ ature, and to philosophy preceded serious and integrative investigations of the style and m eaning o f a work o f art once it had already been created. Prescrip­ tions for ideal works o f art were not uncom m on during antiquity o r the Renaissance, bu t fifteenth-century treatises like Leon Battista A lberti’s The Art of Painting took litde interest in the study o f pre-existing works, preferring pure theory to critical reflection.